title: Cardiocondyla pirata sp. n. - a new Philippine ant with enigmatic pigmentation pattern (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).
abstract: A new species of the ant genus Cardiocondyla Emery, 1869 - Cardiocondyla pirata sp. n. - is described from the Philippines. The species belongs to an Indo-Malayan group of six species that is characterized by workers having a strongly bilobate postpetiolar sternite and a thickset mesosoma with strongly convex dorsal profile as well as wingless, ergatoid males with sickle-shaped mandibles. The female castes show a pigmentation pattern not known from any ant worldwide. If having any adaptive value, a possible function of this structure is supposed to be visual dissolution of body shape in order to irritate predators.
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz, PSF 300154, D-02806 Görlitz.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frohschammer
keywords: Cardiocondyla, ergatoid males; Indo-Malayan region